World Cup 2030 Morocco SMS Messages Reveal Early Involvement

Morocco would have been integrated very early in discussions around the 2030 World Cup, while the bid was still being presented as an Iberian project led by Spain and Portugal. This is what Spanish media The Objective claims, saying it has access to messages exchanged as early as 2018.

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Officially, Morocco’s entry into the joint bid was only announced publicly in March 2023. King Mohammed VI had then confirmed, from Kigali, that the Kingdom was joining Spain and Portugal to host the 2030 World Cup.

But according to Spanish media, the first moves would have begun five years earlier, shortly after Pedro Sánchez came to power. Luis Rubiales, then president of the Spanish Football Federation, would have maintained direct contacts with Karima Benyaich, Morocco’s ambassador to Spain.

Very sensitive messages

In a message dated June 10, 2018, Rubiales would have assured the Moroccan diplomat that he would keep his word. A few days later, he would have written to her that Spain, Portugal and Morocco would organize "a World Cup together".

These exchanges, if confirmed, show that the idea of a three-way bid was already circulating very early behind the scenes, well before being presented publicly as an official and coordinated decision.

The matter would then have shifted to La Moncloa. On July 8, 2018, Rubiales would have written to Pedro Sánchez to inform him, confidentially, of the work being done around a future bid with Morocco and Portugal. He would have presented the operation as a "matter of state".

According to messages cited by Spanish media, Sánchez would have responded favorably and asked to be kept informed. A few months later, in November 2018, the Spanish government chief would have indicated that Moroccans agreed to launch the three-way World Cup project.

The matter is sensitive in Spain, where part of the press and political class believe that Morocco’s entry reduced the weight of the Iberian bid. It also comes as the battle over the 2030 World Cup final remains closely watched, between Madrid, Barcelona and Casablanca.

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For Rabat, these revelations mainly show that Morocco did not arrive late in the matter. The Kingdom would have worked very early on its entry into a bid that has become today one of the greatest symbols of cooperation, but also of rivalry, between the two shores of the strait.